Pest specific plant health response plan: Rhagoletis pomonella (apple maggot fly) Figure 1. Adult Rhagoletis pomonella . © Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org. 1 © Crown copyright 2018 You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: [email protected] This document/publication is also available on our website at: https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/pests-and-diseases/contingency-planning/ Any enquiries regarding this document/publication should be sent to us at: The UK Chief Plant Health Officer Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Room 11G32 Sand Hutton York YO41 1LZ Email: [email protected] 2 Contents 1. Introduction and scope ......................................................................................................... 5 2. Summary of threat................................................................................................................. 5 3. Risk assessments ................................................................................................................. 6 4. Actions to prevent outbreaks ............................................................................................... 6 5. Response activities ............................................................................................................... 8 Official action to be taken following the suspicion or confirmation of Rhagoletis pomonella on imported plants, including fruit ........................................................................ 8 Holding consignments at interception points, including packhouses .............................. 8 Official action to be taken following the suspicion of a Rhagoletis pomonella outbreak .... 9 How to survey to determine whether there is an outbreak .............................................. 10 Official Action to be taken following the confirmation of an outbreak ................................ 12 Communication ................................................................................................................... 12 Decontamination procedures ............................................................................................. 13 Pest Management procedures ........................................................................................... 13 Disposal plan ....................................................................................................................... 15 Infested trees and harvested fruit/soil/plant debris .......................................................... 15 Measures in subsequent seasons ......................................................................................... 15 Infested zone ....................................................................................................................... 15 6. Criteria for declaring eradication / change of policy ....................................................... 16 7. Evaluation and review of the contingency plan ................................................................ 16 8. Appendix A .......................................................................................................................... 17 Data sheet for Rhagoletis pomonella .................................................................................... 17 Identity ................................................................................................................................. 17 Notes on taxonomy and nomenclature .............................................................................. 17 Biology and ecology ........................................................................................................... 18 Hosts/crops affected ........................................................................................................... 18 Similarities to other species/diseases/plant damages ..................................................... 21 3 Distribution .......................................................................................................................... 23 History of introduction/spread ........................................................................................... 24 Phytosanitary status ........................................................................................................... 24 Means of movement and dispersal into the UK ................................................................ 25 Control ................................................................................................................................. 25 Impacts ................................................................................................................................ 28 9. References ............................................................................................................................. 29 10. Authors and reviewers ........................................................................................................ 33 Authors: ................................................................................................................................... 33 Reviewers: ............................................................................................................................... 33 4 1. Introduction and scope 1.1. This pest specific response plan has been prepared by the Defra Risk and Policy team. It describes how the Plant Health Service for England will respond if an infestation of Rhagoletis pomonella (apple maggot fly) is discovered. 1.2. This document will be used in conjunction with the Defra Contingency Plan for Plant and Bee Health in England (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593508/gener ic-contingency-plan-plant-bee-health-england.pdf), which gives details of the teams and organisations involved in pest response in England, and their responsibilities and governance. It also describes how these teams and organisations work together in the event of an outbreak of a plant health pest. 1.3. The aim of this response plan is to facilitate the containment and eradication of R. pomonella. 2. Summary of threat 2.1. Rhagoletis pomonella is native to eastern North America, where its native host is hawthorn (Crataegus spp.). Around 160 years ago, the fly moved onto cultivated apples (Walsh, 1867), and was subsequently detected in Oregon, west USA in 1979 (Sansford et al., 2016; Yee et al., 2014). The fly was recorded in Washington in the following year (Brunner, 1987), and in 2006, the fly was recorded in British Columbia in Canada (CABI, 2017). Rhagoletis pomonella has now spread across most of the USA, much of Canada and is present locally in Mexico. 2.2. Adult flies puncture the skin of the fruit when laying eggs, and the resulting larvae burrow into the flesh and form irregular tunnels (CABI, 2017). These symptoms reduce the quality of the fruit and impact negatively on yield (Sansford et al., 2016). Additional chemical sprays are used to alleviate these effects in the fly’s current range, increasing the cost of production (e.g. Bond et al., 1984). The presence of R. pomonella also affects the export of apples and other hosts as a result of rejection or extra measures imposed by other states within a country or by other countries (Sansford et al., 2016). 2.3. Eggs, larvae and adults of R. pomonella are mainly associated with apple (Malus) fruit, and pupae are generally found in the soil beneath apple trees. Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) is also an important host of the fly, and it has been recorded on a number of other plants in the Rosaceae family, including Cotoneaster spp., Prunus spp. and Pyrus spp. In the UK, the risk of entry is reduced through the prohibition of Crataegus, Malus, Prunus, Pyrus and Rosa plants for planting from non-European countries, other than dormant plants free from leaves, flowers and fruit (Annex III, EU directive 2000/29/EC). There is also a prohibition on soil from Turkey, Belarus, Moldavia, Russia, Ukraine and third countries not belonging to continental Europe, other than Egypt, Israel, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia (Annex III, EU directive 2000/29/EC). Further, trees and shrubs from third countries, other than European and Mediterranean countries, must come in free from fruit. The pathway of entry is therefore limited to imports of host fruit alone, though this risk is partly mitigated by the need for an inspection in the country of origin for fruit of Malus, Prunus, Pyrus and Vaccinium. Fruit and soil moved in passenger baggage and over the internet are also a risk. 5 2.4. Rhagoletis pomonella was intercepted in England with fresh apples from North America on several occasions in the 1920s (Reid and Malumphy, 2009), but it has not been intercepted in recent years. 3. Risk assessments 3.1. Rhagoletis pomonella has an unmitigated and mitigated UK Plant Health Risk Register score of 60 and 40, respectively. These scores are reviewed as and when new information becomes available (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/phiw/riskRegister/viewPestRisks.cfm?cslref=18132). 3.2. A pest risk analysis for the Washington State Department of Agriculture was carried out to determine the risk of R. pomonella entering the pest free area of Washington on municipal green waste,